Okay, thank you.
I want to focus on the second part of your mandate that you outlined in your report. You mentioned, on page 16 of your report, “There is no doubt that these communities are distrustful of security agencies.” That's not entirely accurate. Many diaspora communities have been pleading with security agencies to do more to stop the foreign interference that they are subject to, particularly the Chinese Canadian community.
Chinese Canadians are being targeted by Beijing, and they have rejected your proposals for public hearings. They are frustrated because they have already spoken up and testified many times over the last four years in front of the four parliamentary committees that I've referenced. The government has largely ignored their pleas for help, and they have suffered in silence. They're exhausted. They want more action, not these hearings you are proposing.
Just yesterday evening, I looked at a partial list of members of the Chinese diaspora here who don't want this second phase of hearings, who want an independent public inquiry: Mabel Tung of the Vancouver Society in Support of Democratic Movement; Mehmet Tohti of the Uyghur Rights Advocacy Project; Chemi Lhamo of the International Tibet Network; Gloria Fung of Canada-Hong Kong Link; Victor Ho, the former editor of Sing Tao Daily, one of the largest Chinese-language newspapers in the country; Cherie Wong of Alliance Canada Hong Kong, and the list really does go on.
All of these civic leaders in the Chinese community, and many more, have expressed a lack of confidence in your first report and in this process, so how can you possibly proceed with the second part of your mandate in light of that lack of confidence from many parts of the Chinese community in Canada?